CHAPTER 46: KRUG’S REPORT

Inside a dimly lit hall built from high quality dark oak and reinforced stone, reminiscent of the building styles at the centre of every Sanctuary in the Beast Domain, Beast Slayer sat in his throne-like chair, flanked by all sorts of flashy and luxurious decorations.

Contrary to the vibe of the hall itself though, the air smelled of sweat, blood and burning coal from the gang’s forges nearby.

It was quiet, and calming — the perfect atmosphere for Beast Slayer to relax and rest while he recovered from the wounds he’d suffered in his fight with the Radiant Wind Mantis.

At least, it remained that way until the door creaked open, with a nervous looking Krug stumbling in, boots scuffing the recently cleaned stone floors.

The man looked as if he had just seen a ghost.

Beast Slayer arched a brow at the sight of the new arrival.

"You’d better have a good reason for disturbing me before sundown."

Krug nodded, swallowing dryly.

"It’s that kid, the weakling Waste."

Although he didn’t really narrow down Nick’s identity by just calling him ’Waste’, Beast Slayer knew who Krug was talking about without even having to think about it.

Due to the way the Beast Domain teleported everyone to a random Sanctuary in the Beast Domain, most people didn’t like using their real names, instead using nicknames.

Nick was obviously one of such people as well, its just that instead of choosing his own nickname, he was involuntarily assigned one when he displayed how weak he was after his first arrival...

Naturally, he had tried multiple times to change that, but everyone had already gotten used to calling him the Waste of Space, since space was limited in each Sanctuary, leading to strong leader figures like Beast Slayer to call the weaklings like Nick as such.

But Waste of Space was too long of a Nickname to keep referring to him, so everyone just called him the ’Waste’ as short.

Beast Slayer didn’t react after hearing Nick’s nickname mentioned, only he questioned Krug further.

"I don’t recall your job being to spy on that little shit? I told you to observe the entrance and make a report of everyone who walks in with a Mutant Beast corpse, not deal with useless shit like this! What if a person of interest strides through the gate with a Mutant Beast or two behind them now, while you’re here wasting my time with this!?"

It was clear that Beast Slayer’s already foul mood had only worsened when he heard Krug’s sorry excuse for disturbing his recovery time.

"B-But that is the reason I’m here, sir..." Krug stammered after having Beast Slayer cuss him out so vehemently.

He was quickly beginning to regret his gamble of coming here instead of waiting till his shifted ended after sundown...

But it was already too late to turn back now, so he could only continue with his report like intended and hope that Beast Slayer’s mood changed after listening further to what he had to say.

Beast Slayer couldn’t see how Nick could possibly be related to Krug’s job of monitoring the gate, but he chose to hear him out regardless.

’Whatever, this useless fuck’s already skived his duties by coming here, I’ll deal with him after he’s finished wasting his time here.’ Beast Slayer thought internally.

"Explain." He ordered sternly, not in the mood to hear any more jokes like the one he’d just heard.

"He... he just walked through the gate," Krug said quickly. "Dragging the corpse of a Mutant Lamboda Beast behind him..."

Silence filled the hall, as if it wasn’t already silent enough.

Beast Slayer’s fingers, calloused from his extensive battle experience in the Beast Domain, stopped drumming the table when he heard such a preposterous report.

"That waste? Are you sure your eyes aren’t working? Have you had them checked before I put you up to this task!? Fuck, I’ve hired a goddam incompetent to do such an important job of observation!" Beast Slayer groaned, mistaking Krug’s report as nothing more than the words of a madman.

Krug nodded though.

"Yes sir... I just had then checked out yesterday, the doc said I’m all clear..."

"..."

"..."

Beast Slayer stopped ranting any further.

He didn’t expect Krug to have actually taken an eye test recently...

’That’s right, I don’t hire incompetents, how could I forget that.’

’So if who he really saw was that waste, he must have mistaken the beast he was dragging for a Mutant beast then. That can be the only possible answer for this joke of a situation.’

Naturally, he voiced his concern aloud for Krug to answer, but the answer he received in return only made his expression even more dumbfounded.

"No, boss." Krug said.

"It was him. That weird looking waxy corpse he dragged behind him was 100% a Lamboda Beast. There was a lot of commotion near the entrance when he passed through, so I wasn’t the only one who recognised it, otherwise I’d have thought I was seeing things myself!"

Seeing that Beast Slayer had started to believe his words, Krug’s confidence grew.

’Did that bitch Dido recruit that little waste to her gang?? But why? For what reason could she possibly have a use for someone as weak as that little shit!?’ Beast Slayer was even more confused than Krug now, even though he wasn’t the one who actually saw Nick dragging the Lamboda beast’s corpse in the flesh.

However, while he tried to deduce what exactly was going on, Krug continued his report.

"He was alone as well... I have no idea where he found such an intact Lamoda Beast corpse, but that Waste sure is lucky to have happened upon it!" Krug commented, making a small joke of the matter.

But Beast Slayer wasn’t laughing.

He knew better than someone as dimwitted as Krug, who’d actually believe that Nick was lucky enough to come across an unattended Mutant Beast corpse.

Sure, Lamboda Beasts may be more undesirable than other Mutant Beasts, but they were still Mutant beasts!

Their corpses could still fetch a very eye watering price for ordinary people in the sanctuary!